As Tartarus Breaks Loose

by Thranx

The Southward Thrust

Rockville, a very unassuming city, in Cimex's opinion. Famous simply for its proximity to the former home of the Element of Laughter and the site of a rather curious university, the Rockville Institute, famously known for exclusively offering courses tied to its namesake. The "Rocktorates", as the graduates and rectorate were affectionately called, added to the city's charm. They had a knack for finding humor even in the most peculiar situations. It was no wonder why the Element of Laughter fit her bill. However, regardless of amusement or charm, the city still lay on the path of Army Group South- Center.

As his unit, part of the Army Group South- Center made their way to Appleloosa, they could not help but appreciate the strangeness of the Mild West. The vast Equestrian South, a sprawling map with patches of green amidst a sea of yellow, dwarfed the familiar Equestrian West. Rockville, situated just fifty kilometers from Las Pegasus, already provided a glimpse of the untamed frontier. Tumbleweeds rolled and warm air embraced them, a stark contrast to Cimex's frigid homeland of Ditrysium.

The warm winds, however, strangely reminded him of home. Back home where the sun rarely shone. A changeling's diet consisted of hot stew mixed with small erots of love to keep one warm and cozy. The warm winds touching his chitin somehow reminded him of sitting next to the fireplace during winter back home. Back with his family. He shook his head. Get yourself together, back to the task at hoof, he chided himself.

Amidst the deserts and plains, their objectives stood clear. Army Group South had been divided into three separate armies after the conquest of Las Pegasus. Cimex's unit belonged to the South-Center, tasked with securing Appleloosa. Horston and Dodge Junction awaited South-West and South-East, respectively. That was the mission they had been briefed on, a strategic push into the heart of the Mild West.

---

"Fire!"

Cimex watched as changeling artillery bombarded the rock-obsessed city as his unit marched closer to the frontlines. Loud howitzer fire and changeling officers barking orders filled the atmosphere. A distant whirring made him turn his head upwards as bombers flew overhead each about to jettison its payload on the suffering city. He dropped his head and looked forwards, to the battered city, he could see exploding anti-aircraft rounds above the city, along with plumes of black smoke. It seemed the city was on its last legs. What was left to do was to charge into the city and clear the garrison. A simple solution, yet it comes with a bloody execution.

Cimex stood behind a tank with other soldiers as his unit prepared to charge. Beside him was a sergeant, holding a whistle with his magic, waiting for the bombardment to end and blow the whistle to signal the advance. He glanced next to him and saw rows of tanks arranged in a straight line with changeling soldiers stood behind them, all were preparing for the attack. Then, the bombardment stopped, all that was left was a whistle blow. Just as the sergeant was about to blow the whistle, he was interrupted by a shout.

"We surrender! We surrender! Stop the attack!"

Cimex looked around as with other changelings confusedly waiting for new orders as a changeling captain shouted back.

"Walk out of the city unarmed! You will also surrender all available equipment! Any signs of resistance will be shot on sight! You are given thirty minutes! Failure to comply will resume the attack! Do you accept these terms?" After a few seconds, the equestrians responded.

"We agree to the conditions!"

Cimex looked to the city as droves of Equestrian soldiers marched out unarmed. He shielded his eyes as the sunset blinded his vision a little and observed the soon-to-be prisoners-of-war. Many of them looked exhausted, some were still waving white flags. As he observed them, he heard someling approached the captain. He wore a black uniform, different from the grey uniform of the Heer. A Queen's Guard.

"Why did you accept their surrender?" the changeling asked the lieutenant.

"So we don't have to waste lives and ammunition, that's why," the captain curtly responded.

"The nearest POW camp is back home, a thousand kilometers away! Our trains are better used for transporting more soldiers and tanks! Not transferring these ponies!" the Queen's Guard spat.

"So what do you propose? Let more changelings die? Not when the Equestrians gave us this city on a silver platter!" the captain raised his voice a little.

"They are outnumbered and outgunned! We would roll them over easily, instead, we have to manage this!"

"And lose our initiative? Our time? Our ammo? Our soldiers?!"

"Yes! The ponies can barely stand on their four hooves, their frontlines are cracking everywhere as we speak! We don't need initiative, we've already won! They have nothing! We have everything! We can replace our losses and they can't! I say we shoot them now!"

"No, killing prisoners will only embolden them. Also, as I recall, all operations on the front falls under the jurisdiction of the Heer, not the Queen's Guard. So I say, you should mind your own business and tell Lacin that we know what we're doing," the captain retorted.

The changeling glared daggers at the captain. "Fine, you win," he turned and stomped away. The captain sighed and muttered, "Bloody Cardo and his buggers.". He wiped the sweat on his forehead and turned to the soldiers watching the commotion and shouted, "What are you looking at? Get back to your stations!" All changelings including Cimex scrambled back to their respective sections.

---

Night has fallen and Rockville was secured. The prisoners were handed to the Queen's Guard to transport them away from the front. Likely to a work camp. Cimex's unit was not involved in securing the city so he was stationed outside of the city.

Cimex lay still as he stared at the ceiling of his tent. He could not sleep as he was sweating bullets. I thought Rockville was arid! Why am I sweating this much? he thought to himself. He concluded that it was probably the small tent that caused him to sweat this much. To Tartarus with this. I'm going for a walk, he decided. He got up and put on his uniform and trotted out of his tent. He checked his watch to see that it was half past twelve. He looked around to see rows of tents and walked to the edge of the camp.

Upon reaching there, he saw two changelings from his unit, Sergeant Carapace and Corporal Maxilla and trotted towards them. The former was staring at a campfire while cleaning his pistol and the latter sat in front of a box and had her back facing him, he did not see what she was doing, but it looked like she was doing something on top of the box. As he arrived, he greeted the sergeant.

"What are you doing here, Sir? If you mind me asking,"

The sergeant looked up and replied, "Oh Cimex, it's you. Take a seat. Both of us can't sleep, too hot. So we're just getting some fresh air. I take it the heat's bugging you too?"

Cimex nodded, "Yes, sir,"

He chuckled, "What did I tell you, you can drop the formalities. We're comrades, aren't we?"

"Yes, sir—uh, I mean Carapace," Cimex stumbled before he sat on a log. He glanced to Corporal Maxilla and asked Carapace, "What's Maxilla doing?"

"She somehow got herself a broken radio. An Equestrian one at that. And thought she could fix it," Carapace snorted.

"I know I can! I've done this plenty back home," Maxilla replied without looking back. "Just needs some tweaking, is all. I'm almost done," she added, followed by a short moment of silence. "Aaand, we're done!" she exclaimed. She turned to them both and showed them the radio she put on the box. She grinned, "Now, let's see what this bad boy can do,". She tuned to an Equestrian channel, only to be greeted with static.

"Aw, come on! Why won't you work?" she knocked the radio a little before the static gave way and finally they were able to hear something.

"... because I was afraid—static—sary, no longer!" the radio buzzed. Cimex and Carapace turned to Maxilla.

"Okay, that's not my fault. That's bad signal. Way out of my control," she defended. Carapace conceded as he tilted his head a little and the three continued to listen.

"—order there can be—static—val! Without—static—ship! All shall be sa—static—and I ask—static—dience—static—shared sacrifice!" Then, the signal died, followed by a static then silence.

"Well, she sounded angry," Carapace remarked. Cimex had to agree with the sergeant, the voice was clearly a female and her voice was clearly laced with hatred. Meanwhile Maxilla opened the radio to check it.

"Damn, the battery's dead. I forgot to ask for batteries. I'll ask Coccyx if he's got batteries tomorrow," said Maxilla before she turned to Carapace and Cimex. "So, now what do we do?" she asked.

Carapace shrugged as he continued cleaning his pistol and Cimex said nothing. Maxilla sighed, "I was hoping to listen to some music, guess I'll just sit here with both of you." Silence followed before Maxilla broke it, "Equestrians have some good music, you know,"

The two other changelings did not reply before Carapace inserted his gun in his holster and stood up gaining Maxilla's and Cimex's attention. "Get some sleep, you two. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day," he said before he walked away. The corporal and private traded glances.

"I'll put out the fire," mumbled Maxilla as she stood up.

"I'll help you," Cimex replied as they worked together to put out the fire before returning to their tents. The heat persisted well throughout the night.